The Things We Leave Behind
by Ollen70
Summary: What if Magus were able to return to a part of Zeal after the fall? Takes place after the game ends. Maybe a little dark, but nothing extreme. Very lightly implied LuccaMagus. As always, reviews are appreciated.


  
Set after the ending of the game. If any of this conflicts with the actual sequel (and I doubt if it will,) then I apologize. This was pretty much induced by a combination of Radiohead's Air bag,the Deaftones' and far too much free time. It definitely isn't a song fic though, in case you were wondering. It isn't all that great, so don't be surprised if I do a major overhaul on it at some point. Like always, reviews are very welcome.   
  
One more time, for the people who haven't heard this until they want to scream, Chrono Trigger and the characters in it don't belong to me. That said, this particular plot and it's dialogue are original.  
  
  
  
The Things We Leave Behind   
  
  
What a strange place the world turns out to be. Looking over the clouds below and the few fragments of land left in a cobalt ocean, he felt a familiar twinge. Somewhere at the bottom of that ocean lay the broken remains of his life. The old pangs of guilt had lessened some with the passing of Lavos, but he doubted if he would ever be free of them. Even if he could, they were part of him now. And in a way, they kept him closest to the brightest piece of his past.  
Magus turned restlessly from the window, wondering not for the first time what day it was or what month, even. Initially he had tried to keep track when Lucca delivered him here, but soon the monotony of doing so wore on him. To his knowledge, it was around three months since his arrival. Sooner or later, she would come again, unless for some reason she saw fit to abandon her promise.   
Sir Janus..?  
He asked coldly, wishing he were still facing the window. A woman in oranges and yellows approached him timidly, bearing a tray of various fruits, a wedge of cheese, and several delicacies he barely remembered from his childhood.   
Leave it on the table, if you will.  
Of course.. came the reply, and in a moment she was gone. With a mirthless smirk, he marveled at his ability to make people jump, even if they did not know the sullied reputation he had built for himself in another time. Idly he poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher on the tray and drank deeply, savoring the hint of lemon that it was traced with. While he drank, he toyed with a book on the table.  
Enhasa was just as he remembered it. Perhaps a bit more rustic, now that there was no place like in the world. Whether the future held reminders of the culture that lingered here, he did not know. Even he would never have found it, had it not been for that confounded girl.   
After the destruction of Lavos, roughly two years ago, Janus had returned to the dark ages in search of Schala. In all likelihood he would never find her again, but he was determined to continue his quest. She, he assured himself, would have done more for him. The once-abundant land was gone now. Only a small island, retaining the last of humanity was nestled in a forgotten corner of the ocean. There were still icebergs, several lone mountains, and, though it was against all common sense that he hoped it, the chance that the ocean palace had not been totally destroyed. Stocked as well as it had been with all manner of magical artifacts, he made himself believe that anyone who made it through the fall of the continent would have enough resources to live for decades. Of course, the crumbling aerial continent landed where that palace had once been. And at the same time, Janus and the others themselves brought about the fall of the monstrosity that was the Black Omen, a citadel that bore a stunning resemblance to the said undersea palace.   
Two years with no sign of Schala and nowhere left to look brought him close to the all-too-familiar brink of despair. If she was not in this forsaken time, it mattered little. The gates from era to era were gone, now that Lavos was no more. Many would have called it coincidence, then, that as he stood once more on the northern cape near the last village in the world, a bright flash in the sky caught his attention. After all his experiences, he no longer believed in coincidence.   
How Lucca came to be there or why was still not clear to him. At any rate, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was there. Even now, he could still recall their conversation when the timeship Epoch landed nearby and she scrambled up the cape, panting heavily when she reached him.  
How very odd. He said, finally gaining his wits enough to address her.  
Well, it's nice to see you too! Two years had changed her, if it had been two years in her era as well. Everything was relative when it came to time travel, so things got confusing very quickly. Lucca was never an ugly girl. Plain, perhaps, but pretty in her own way. Now, her hair was to her waist, plaited neatly. She still wore her peculiar hat and those glasses that were thicker than the ice on which they stood. Like always, he found it strange that she preferred the tunic and leggings more befitting a man than skirts, though he couldn't fault her for it. The young inventor always chose comfort over fashion, and her clothing could not hide her slender, elegant figure. Through all her layers of eccentricity, it was obvious she had bloomed.  
I hoped I'd find you here. She continued, either ignoring or actually oblivious to the dismay he couldn't wipe from his face. We have a lot of catching up to do. Here, come on. The Epoch's over here.  
I know." He said dryly. And so does absolutely everyone else in the world, at the moment. At this Lucca gave a nervous chuckle.   
There isn't exactly a discreet place to land in this era, is there?  
I thought it was your intention to dismantle the Epoch. He kept himself staid, unwilling to display how good it was to see her here. Emotion did not become him, as he learned again more than two years ago. At one time, he believed he might have felt something for her, other than the vague disdain he felt for nearly everyone else. The parting, however, was inevitable. They were from different realms of existence. Even if he had given up the search for Schala to stay with her, and she had asked him to, they both knew that it was impossible. He was bound to his own time, just as she was tied to hers. Besides, it was not for nothing that he was the most feared man in the middle ages. Kindness and warmth were not inherent in him. It was likely that those traits never would be.  
Marle and Crono married seven weeks ago. She wasn't even facing him when she said it. Instead she was fiddling pointlessly with some of the levers on the Epoch's instrument panel. Maybe she thought if she didn't look at him, he wouldn't see the twinge in her. Maybe she thought she could make it sound like losing a best friend to another friend was an every day occurrence.  
He did not reply. She wouldn't want comfort from him. That's what the overgrown metal creature from the future was for. Or that Neanderthal, Ayla. There had to be some reason why she opted to come here.  
Crono was never more than a very good friend. She said at last. But I know well enough that we'll never be as close now as we used to. Maybe that's okay. Change is the only thing we have to look forward to, right? She wiped her hand across her eyes deftly, matching his crimson eyes with her profound gaze.  
I know something of loss. He said finally, not knowing how much longer he could continue to look in her direction without letting something slip. Why did she make him feel like this? Was it because she was Enlightened, like he was? No, that couldn't be it. Even when he, for a brief time, had been given the opportunity to relive the tragedy of Zeal as a young man, the women there did not intrigue him as she did.   
That's sort of why I came. She smiled weakly. I..I thought I'd see how the search for Schala's going.  
He knew she hadn't meant to make things awkward. There was simply no avoiding it. It..it isn't as though it was ever a realistic goal. They both already knew it. More than once he'd addressed this issue before, both with her and with himself. No one ever asked him to give it up, and even now her eyes were understanding and soft. While he watched her, a large, foolish grin spread across her face.  
I've found you a reprieve.  
The engine of the Epoch hummed gently beneath him and they were off.   
I thought you dismantled the Epoch. He said again, realizing that she still hadn't replied from the first time he'd asked.   
I haven't used it for two years. The modifications I made make it so that only the person with the gate key can start it, so it isn't like anybody can steal it or anything.  
But every time you use it, you risk altering the future.  
I'm careful. She said sheepishly. Besides, when you see what I have to show you, I don't think you'll be complaining.  
He didn't know how she did it or why it was real, but then, Lucca was not one to be underestimated. While he goggled, a spectacle appeared wraith-like from out of a plume of vapour just ahead.  
  
Before them loomed an island dangling in the sky as Zeal once had. As they drew closer, it was clear that this actually WAS part of Zeal.  
Enhasa? But how..? That city was destroyed!  
Think about it. Lucca said quietly, letting him regain himself. In all the other eras, every part of Zeal that was on the trajectory of the attack surfaced at one point or another. Except, of course, for Enhasa. And now that it's hovering over the south pole, who in this era would know that it's there? Even in my time, we haven't sent many explorers to that part of the world. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that maybe Enhasa wasn't crushed. That's why I came.  
But I thought that the few Enlightened that lived were from Enhasa..!  
Have they said that?  
He learned to his dismay that his normal eloquence hadn't yet returned.  
All this time you've been here, and you didn't actually ask them? She was incredulous. And you seem so thorough on the surface.  
With that, he soon found himself standing in the main room of Enhasa, the city of dreams. For all the world, it appeared as if nothing had changed since before the fall. Lucca stayed for one night, then left again. In three months, she solemnly promised him, she planned to come again and take him to begin the search anew. For her, it would be a short hop, since she'd simply set the Epoch's chronometer ahead. For him, it would be three months in the most peaceful place existing, save maybe Death Peak, and no one was sure if that even still existed in the new future.   
  
Whether the days passed quickly he could not say. All he knew was that they passed. During his stay, he learned that Enhasa was still endowed with a few shards of mystical dreamstone, granting them enough power to last for ages. Now that there was no land bridge below to connect them to, their skyway was useless. All food had to be grown or made magically through their own power. All these particulars were of no real importance to him.   
Enhasa was a very quiet place, filled with books and beds. He doubted if he could have found a more solitary place anywhere. For many days he tried to sleep endlessly as the inhabitants of Enhasa could, caring nothing for the world below or any other person. Reaching the verge of success, he bolted out from under the covers and returned to the nearby window. It was his only companion here.  
The Ocean far below called to him more day by day. Venturing out toward the edges of the sky island, he reveled in the freshness of the wind and the taste of brine on the air. Would this have been his life, if he could have saved Schala and Zeal? Would he know nothing of the darkness? Could he have been anything more than a spoiled, worthless man with no aspiration? Purposelessness was a bleak, unforgiving thing.  
The days continued to smear by, distinguished only by how keen he was to hold onto his thoughts at the moment. The people offered little outlet for frustration. They hadn't suffered the loss of Zeal. In all reality, their lot in life never changed. After all, when you have nothing to aspire to, how can any event lower those standards further?   
Maybe I ought to get down on my own.' He thought one day, half-serious. The prospect of living out his life here was a dreadful one. Endless peace was certainly not what he expected. Peace, he reminded himself, didn't imply happiness. Especially when the purest, gentlest thoughts he'd ever had were borne out of suffering and pain. There was no need to look for something higher here- no need to strive for redemption, or to cry out to Heaven for salvation. Existence itself would soon become the sort of dream so unspectacular that it can't be remembered during consciousness. This wasn't reality. This wasn't the truth of the world, no matter how much he wished it could have been. The world was ice. The world was pain. The world was sorrow and loss and sacrifice and death. The world was faith.  
  
All relaxed? Lucca asked. She arrived hours later, looking not one day older than she had when she left him.   
Probably because she isn't.' He thought ironically. The seats of Epoch were not plush, as the chairs in Enhasa had been. The grating crash of the engine brought no peace of mind. He was happy here, just the same.  
Do you want me to come and get you again, after awhile? I'd be happy to make this a routine, if you like.  
He thanked her just the same, but declined. She didn't need to know what thoughts frequented him while she was away. It wasn't ever as real when he tried to explain it anyway.  
She said, a little sadly. I guess I, uh... He imagined she'd started to say that she'd see him around, before the truth donned on her.  
He called, once he'd left the Epoch. If I was meant to find Enhasa, I would have before now. It's a beautiful place, but it's more beautiful to dream about. She smiled sadly at his aspersion. The dome over Epoch began to close, and he shouted out again before it did, surprising himself.  
I'll go again. But not alone.. He cursed himself for his foolish sentimentality, but kept his eyes in her general direction, willing his voice to convey nothing of his inner thoughts. "I've spent more than enough time alone, for one lifetime."  
Casting a bright smile his way, she nodded. He would see her again, after all. Then the world blinked, and she was gone.  
  
  
Ollen70: Like I said, it's a pointless story. Just the same, it was fun to write. I hope you liked it, even just a little. Either way, let me know.


End file.
